In The Bleak Mid-Winter

We are smack-dab in the middle a typical west-coast winter, which means some cold, yes, but more than that it means rain.  We do enjoy the odd chilly but dazzlingly sunny day, but mostly it's just plain wet out.  Which means we don't get to spend much time outside, so we sometimes have to find other ways to expend the kids' energy.  We've been to a few indoor activity centres which are always very entertaining for the kids.  Jordan loves to climb all over and in particular enjoys "ballocity" at Crash Crawley's, he gleefully loads up the "ball-cano" and then presses the button to release a blast of air that blows the balls all over!  And both kids like playing in the ball pit and sliding down slides.

J's duck-face!

One day, Jordy and Mom had grocery shopping to do (this kid LOVES going to the store!) so we left Cygni napping at home and Daddy for some quiet time, and did the chore.  And afterwards, Mommy and J-man went out for an impromptu banana split!  Ah, these are the things that are exciting -- impetuous outings that make for quality time together, and hopefully sweet memories for the kids.  Jordy hammed it up nicely for the camera!

You can see Cygni sign her big brother's name and hear how she speaks it too, 
near the end of this clip, taken while waiting for Jordy to get out of school

 Play-doh!  (Gotta watch she doesn't eat it, because she will try!)

Cygni has been a busy girl!  She practically runs everywhere she goes!  Mommy has resorted to bringing a kiddie-leash that she never had to use on Jordan, because C tends to wander far away and get into trouble while we are waiting for Jordy to get out of school.  It's not too bad when it's just the two of us, but once big brother is out, it's too easy for baby sister to go for an unsupervised stroll while Mom is beleaguered by back-packs, art projects, jackets and last minute potty trips.  So yup, leash her we did!  She is signing and speaking like crazy too!  Seems like every day she's saying a new word.  She is pretty independent 90% of the time, but once she gets sight of a babysitter or notices that Mommy has her work clothes on, the waterworks and the wailing begin.  She is definitely a very emotional little creature, and has added a little trick to her crying if she really wants to get our attention:  she prostrates herself and then bangs her forehead on the ground.  It's very effective.  Most amazing, she is darn good at keeping up with her big bro!  She can't do everything he does, but she always takes a crack at it and failing in the attempt, she will usually find a close alternative to ensure she doesn't get left too far behind.  She's freakin' cuter than anything some days too!

This kid absolutely loves popcorn, here she is signing the word while munching

 Pig-tail Peek-a-boo!

Cygni can sign her own name, now

Mommy & Daddy decided that what the Dumaresq Family needs to do more of is WALKING.  So we've resolved to go for a family walkabout whenever it's dry on the weekend .  Last Saturday was sufficiently dry to do a 5K walk on the dyke along Boville Slough, and we even got a tiny glimpse of blue sky.  After our walk we took our brood to a nearby playgound so they could have a little playtime fun too.  Turns out that this past weekend was a holiday long weekend: the first ever BC Family day was on Monday, so after the kids went to bed on Sunday, the folks got a sitter and made a rare late-night trip to the movie theater to see Life of Pi.  Then the next day, we all slept in and woke up to a yummy homemade doughnut breakfast.  It was all a little too sweet for Mom and Dad so they later whipped up a couple soft-boiled eggs too.  Didn't do anything else too exciting, but we think we achieved a modicum of relaxation, something not too common in this house.

 A Patch of Blue

Some other excitement we almost didn't mention, mostly because  it makes Mommy & Daddy feel kinda stupid, is an nasty incident with the family iPad.  However, this blog's tagline is "Chris'n'Deb's Journey through Parenthood," so we'll share, warts and all.  Saturday morning, while Daddy was being generous enough to allow Mommy to sleep in a couple hours, Jordy had one of his favourite TV programs on.  After a while, our little man decided that he wanted to play with the iPad.  Of course, this monopoly of all entertainment media did not sit well with The Big Dumer, and so Dad felt it his right to change the channel: a decision which did not meet the approval of The Little Dumer.  He got mad, he got mad and threw the iPad. Now, we as parents are guilty of creating this monstrous moment: 

• we normally have the iPad encased in a  Griffin Survivor military-duty case to protect it from the war-zone conditions it has to endure in the Dumaresq home front, but when Daddy took the iPad with him to Texas (it is actually HIS iPad, afterall,) he put it in his Oregon Ducks case, a nice gift from the Leatons this Christmas, but we never changed the case over when Dad returned -- inexcusable, particularly as the thought did rattle around in Mommy's mind, only the day before the incident, that she ought to swap covers!
• We have been guilty of enabling a sense of entitlement to screen time (TV as well as iPad) in both of our children.  They demand time to watch their DVDs or Treehouse Channel, and to play with the iPad, and we don't often put up a fight.
• And though we have been working with Jordan on appropriate ways to express his anger, frustration, fear and disappointment, he is not yet above throwing objects in a fit of rage.

Well.  The iPad sustained some serious screen trauma this time.  Though it still worked, the screen had to be replaced.  Dad admonished Jordan about his temper and showed him that Jordan broke Daddy's iPad and that it couldn't be used again until it was fixed.  And that day, Jordy didn't get any more TV time or any treats of any kind.  We did find a guy to replace the screen for about $75 and we have reinstated use of iPad privileges as of today, but with a limit of a half hour just a couple of times a day.  We do think Jordan has learned from this incident that throwing our favourite things can cause them to break and so we shouldn't do that because it can make us sad.  He approached Daddy last night and asked if he could play with the iPad.  When Daddy replied that he couldn't because it still wasn't done being repaired, Jordy ran to the living room, fished around in his lunchbox and came back to Dad with two nickles and said, "Money fix iPad!"  Yeah, it was pretty heart-melting, we admit!  Apparently in Jordy's mind, the cost of an iPad repair is about equivalent to two handfuls of jelly beans from the jelly bean machine.  If only, kid.

What with the long weekend, DCS Pre-school decided to let the kids have the rest of the week off while the teachers took some professional development time.  So Mommy arranged a couple of play dates for this week in an attempt to keep the kids from going stir crazy and to keep the housekeeping from suffering overexposure to Jordan!  Yesterday we went to Koko's with Cindi and Nolan and had a grand time climbing, playing and riding some rides.  Today we saw our friends Owen and Nina and tomorrow we're going to have our friends Landon and Carter over for a visit too.  The week is already flying by.  Thank goodness!

Haha!  Oops, may have been better off not holding J's hand this time!

Jordan got a few lucky red-envelopes from his classmates at school last week to celebrate the lunar, or Chinese, New Year.  He loved finding the chocolate coins or fortune cookies inside! In the big panel of the photo-collage below you can see him sign gold.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!